Ezra 5

¹ When the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah andJerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them,

² Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began rebuilding the Temple of God inJerusalem; with them were the prophets of God, supporting them.

³ It was then that Tattenai governor of Transeuphrates, Shethar-Bozenai and their associates came tothem and asked, 'Who gave you the order to rebuild this Temple and complete this structure?

⁴ What are the names of the men putting up this building?'

⁵ But the eyes of their God were watching over the elders of the Jews, so they were not forced to stopuntil a report could reach Darius and an official reply about the matter could be received from him.

⁶ A copy of the letter which Tattenai, governor of Transeuphrates, Shethar-Bozenai and his associates,the officials in Transeuphrates, sent to King Darius.

⁷ They sent him a report which ran as fol ows: 'To King Darius, hearty greetings!

⁸ 'The king should be informed that we went to the province of Judah, to the Temple of the great God,which is being rebuilt with large stones; beams are being embedded in the walls; the work is being carried outenergetical y and is making good progress.

⁹ Questioning these elders, we asked them, "Who gave you permission to rebuild this Temple andcomplete this structure?"

¹⁰ We also asked them their names, to inform you, so that we could record the names of the men whowere their leaders.

¹¹ 'They gave us the fol owing answer, "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth; we arerebuilding the Temple built many years ago, which a great king of Israel had built and completed.

¹² But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar theChaldaean king of Babylon who destroyed this Temple and deported the people to Babylon.

¹³ In the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, however, King Cyrus issued an official order that this Templeof God should be rebuilt;

¹⁴ furthermore, those gold and silver articles belonging to the Temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar hadremoved from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple of Babylon, King Cyrus in turn removed fromthe temple of Babylon and handed back to a certain Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed governor.

¹⁵ He said to him, 'Take these articles; go and return them to the Temple which is in Jerusalem and letthe Temple of God be rebuilt on its original site;'

¹⁶ this Sheshbazzar then came and laid the foundations of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, and it hasbeen under construction ever since, and is not yet finished."

¹⁷ 'Hence, if it please the king, let search be made in the royal treasuries in Babylon, to find out if it is truethat an official order was issued by King Cyrus for this temple of God in Jerusalem to be rebuilt; and let the king'sdecision on this matter be sent to us.'